Ride A Wooden Horse

If you don't follow Chinese astrology, then you may not be aware that this is the Yang Wood Horse year.  If you are a Westerner, you probably have visions of carousels and those little nickel rides in front of the drugstore.  Of course, that assumes you are an old fart Westerner, I suppose, since visions like that don't exist any more.

It's not quite that simple.

The horse is a fire sign and wood obviously feeds fire.  Yang light casts a positive spin on things and enhances them, but things can get out of control.

This year is liable to see extreme weather (continuing) and lots of health problems, especially with the stomach and gut.  Look for outbreaks of stomach flu in general populations and bouts of indigestion on an individual basis.

The wood part implies strong and fast growth, which can be good for some things, like spiritual awakenings, but can be bad in socio-political situations (read Ukraine, etc.).  Explosive growth can also mean weak foundations and poor construction.  Trees that grow very fast tend to have shallow roots and fall over easily in storms.

And we are in for some storms.  Yang Wood Horse years are known for wars.  The last one in 1954, saw the defeat of France in Vietnam, which ultimately led to the US Vietnam War and the socio-political upheaval in the US commonly called the 60s. On the positive side, the 60s were known for bursts of creativity, but as we have seen, many of the movements that began in that era were shallow and have withered over time.

In this year of the Yang Wood Horse, efforts to expand one's spiritual life will see the return of immediate and rapid results.  The nobility of the Horse will tend to make these efforts positive and beneficial, but one should take care to ensure that things don't get out of hand and "lose the name of action".

What we can likely expect this year is:

• late cold blasts in the northern hemisphere;
• soggy, cool cummer in many places;
• wars and conflicts;
• a protracted and severe outbreak of intestinal flu;
• a rapid spiritual awakening of large numbers of people;
• greater efforts to live more harmoniously on a personal level.

 It's not going to be an easy year, but if folks are aware of the esoteric forces affecting the world around us, we can control and focus those forces in positive ways.  If not, then we are in for some nasty conflicts.

All in all, we can sum up the year as being one of having an energetic horse by the tail.  We can either learn to control and marshal the horse's strengths into positive focus, with the aid of a positive bias on our side, or we can let it get out of hand and end up with a stampede of events that will surely run us over.

Or it's all superstitious bullshit and we shouldn't pay it any mind.

I subscribe to the notion that astrology has some foundation in fact and science, though it's been covered over with hocus-pocus for a long time.  I tend to take the themes more seriously than the particulars, so I'm ready for some upheavals and health issues going forward.

Happy happy!